


Trigger(wo)man

by AceVonS



Series: Mr. President [6]
Category: Designated Survivor (TV), NCIS
Genre: Family, Gun Violence, Guns, Hate, Hate Crimes, Homophobia, Insanity, Love, M/M, Out of Character, Psychiatric Hospitals, Racial slurs, Transphobia, Triggers, Violent Thoughts, if you squint really hard - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-09-30 18:28:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20451611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceVonS/pseuds/AceVonS
Summary: What happens when one hates the other so much that there are not words for it and then they are pushed beyond their limits?





	1. Trigger-happy

**Author's Note:**

> READ THE TAGS!
> 
> If you are triggered by any of the tags, don't read. Take care of yourself and please, don't read any further.

She had always pretended to like him, but it was never more than an act. The world had lost a great actress in her when she chose another career path, but she didn't regret it. After all she had met her husband at work and that marriage had granted her two kids.

She loved Alex more than life and when Alex brought that man home, she saw that she loved him, so she pretended. It was the only option, she couldn't risk losing her daughter like she had lost her son. 

The stupid man, Thomas, had bought it, hook, line and sinker. Then again, what can you expect from a lowlife academic without any ambition. She pretended for her daughter’s sake and kept pretending for her kids, but the truth was that she despised the man. 

_ She had thought of the plan trough too many times to count. She was family, so they wouldn’t check her too  carefully as she entered the White House. _

It felt like he had taken her daughter away from her. Alex had moved to america to study. It had been easy for her because she had dual nationality, she was both Russian and an American. She had been so proud of her daughter even if she missed her something terrible

She had become a human rights lawyer and she had been a good one. And then her daughter had fallen in love with that good for nothing academic and married him. She'd hated him with passion from the beginning.

_ She needed to hide the gun well, but that's the reason why she had bought the bag in the first place. It could hide a world of secrets. It was hard from the outside and it looked small, but it could fit in a lot of things. Like a gun underneath a fake bottom… _

He had even learned her language in the hopes of impressing her and Alex’s grandparents. It had impressed them a little, not that she would ever admit it. To anyone. Admitting it even to herself in her mind was painful enough.

_ _

_ That little shit would get what he deserved. Today! _

She smiled when she though of her grandchildren. They were the only good thing that had come out of the marriage between her daughter and that academic. She adored those two so much. And Penny was still such a sweet child. It was a shame that she adored her father so much, but with time she would learn.

She hated to do anything that would harm the kids, but this was something that needed to  be done . She knew that her plan would hurt the kids if she went through it, but she saw no other alternative. He and his whore had to go, so she could raise the kids the proper way.

_ How dare he desecrate the memory of her daughter like that? She might have understood if he had found another woman instead of that… that… thing! _

Kirkman had ruined the kids already by babying them too much and now he was marrying a man. It was outrageous. How could he even think to do such a thing? How could he marry man? Did he not understand what it would do to the kids? They would grow up weird themselves and  perhaps even become gay themselves. If he wanted to shame himself, then so be it, but he needed to stop putting shame on the kids. The kids were what was important. Alexandra’s kids.

_ _

_ Alexandra. My dear Alexandra. He killed you. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. _

She would put a stop to it. She had to. For the kid’s sake. This was all for the kids. 

Later that same day, she went to the White House like she had planned. To say it surprised the first couple, but they would not say anything. It would be a good thing for the kids.

After all it was normal for grandmother to visit her grandchildren. It was all  perfectly normal except for the fact that she had the gun hidden in her bag. They checked her and her bag, but since she was family, it wasn’t thorough search. She smiled and chatted with the guards,  effectively distracting them. She thanked them and went on her merry way.

_ Her plan was going well. It was too damn easy, and she wondered why no one had taken advantage of this vulnerability before. _

She greeted Tom and his fiancée  coolly . She hugged Penny like her life depended on it and Leo received the same treatment. It was nothing unusual.

_ Soon sweet Penny and Leo would  be raised like they should've been from the beginning. She would see to that herself. It was what Alexandra would’ve wanted.  _

She waited until Penny had gone to fetch something or other that she wanted to show to her. Leo had gotten lost in his music and his phone again. It would've been better if he had left the room, but needs must. Then again, she could wait a few more minutes to see if the opportune moment would present itself.

_ The phone would be the first thing to go after she was their main caretaker. It was unbecoming of youth to be slaves to such machinery. She would not have it. _

She watched the couple in front of her and got angrier by the minute. She was going to be sick if she had to watch the pair canoodling in front of her one more minute. 

The opportunity presented itself ten minutes later. Tom had gone to speak with Leo and they had gone to the other side of the room. Penny had gone back to her room to draw because she had grown bored with the adults talking. She could have done it then and taken them both out, but she wanted the president to suffer like she was suffering. 

_ The whore of a man goes first and there will be nothing my daughter’s widower can do about it. _

She was finally alone with the boy toy and she saw red. She fixed her eyes on his. When she spoke, her voice was like ice. “You will not ruin my grandchildren.” Before she had finished her sentence, she had pulled the gun out of her bag. She pointed it at Tony’s heart and pulled the trigger.

She couldn't remember much afterwards. The secret service burst in and swarmed the place, they took her down. They took her gun. It enraged her further, this was ruining her plan. Her careful plan was failing and she couldn't understand how it could be happening.

She had not counted on the secret service acting so fast. When they were hauling her out, she saw a glimpse of the first couple. Tom was doing his best to stem the bleeding, but the blood pool kept growing under the younger man. The medics arrived and took control of the situation. They took him away on a gurney. It all had taken  just a few minutes, but to everyone involved it felt like a lifetime had passed.

She hoped that she had managed to kill the whore and laughed. She laughed like the lunatic she was. It didn’t matter that she had not managed to end Tom, he was suffering and that was all that mattered. 

What she didn’t understand though was the anger and hate in the kids' eyes. She had done this for them. They were all that mattered.

She smiled at their direction, “Grandma will always love you two.”

The kids went to their dad and hid their faces in his shoulders. They didn’t care about the blood right now, they needed their dad. And they needed their pops. They couldn’t lose another parent. It would break them.

The agents finally managed to drag the older woman away, she was  surprisingly strong in her rage.

The President and his kids  were kept away from her.

“I need to change.” Tom whispered, and Penny pulled away. She saw the blood and started to weep harder. Leo picked her up and sat with her on the couch their parents had sat on  just a few minutes ago, happy and healthy. 

He nodded at their dad and Tom gave a sad smile. He went to change his clothes, it was all he could do to hold himself together. He needed to change, he needed to go the kids and they needed to be at the hospital like yesterday.

After the kids had changed their clothes as well, they  were rushed to the hospital. Tony was fighting for his life and his family could do nothing, but wait. Tom hated waiting, he hated  being scared and he hated that there was only so much he could do to calm down the kids. How could he, when he was a wreck himself?

It was a long night for them and Tom was in no shape to govern the country. He had named Aaron Shore as his Vice President a couple of months ago. Now the man would get his first taste of being the President. Tom knew he could trust the man and he was certain if it came to it, the younger man would make a great president. 

Time would tell.

Tom was glad that he had someone to take the reigns while he waited for his husband fight his way back to their family. 

As luck would have it, their grandmother had been a lousy shot. The bullet had hit Tony’s shoulder instead of his heart where she had aimed at.


	2. Just Desserts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom talks with his former mother in law and realizes a few things, not all is what it seems at first glance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will have a few things that could be triggering, e.g. racial slurs and mentions psychiatric hospitals.

Tom Kirkman was not a man who often got angry, but when he did, it was spectacular.

  


Now he was over that line, he was boiling with rage as he was taken to meet his former mother in law per his request. On an intellectual level, he knew that he should take the emotion out of the situation. He should be the cool and calm leader of the free world, but he wasn’t certain if he could that.

  


As a President he'd had to deal with multiple things he found distasteful, but this was different. This was about his fiancé being attacked in their home. This was about his family. So while he didn't get angry very often, now he was livid. And try as he might there was no way he could manage to take the emotion out of the equation. And quite frankly, he didn’t want to.

  


Tony would survive, he would have one more scar from yet another brush with death. But he would be back to normal with time. Tom send a heartfelt thank you to whichever higher power had helped them.

  


Tom closed his stinging eyes and took a deep breath. The man he loved was out of the woods and would make a full recovery. The bitch would be paying for what she had tried to do. This he swore to himself. She would pay, one way or another.

  


Right now, however, he needed to project calm, he couldn't show her how angry and frustrated he was, how scared. So he kept his eyes closed and centered himself.

  


He let his mind go through the night. And it had been a long one. The initial scare of seeing Tony getting hit, the medics, the ravings of a madwoman, the screams of his kids. He would never forget the screams. And he had cried, he had tried to fight the tears, but he had lost the fight. It had made the kids cuddle closer to him and he had held them like his life depended on it.

  


Tony had lost a lot of blood and while the bullet had missed its' original target, it had still caused damage. It had looked worse than it was. And Tom had been scared. He'd been afraid to close his eyes. It was irrational fear, but he'd been afraid that if he did blink, he would lose Tony.

  


It hadn't happened, thank goodness for that._ He was alive, he would survive._ This was the mantra Tom told to himself over and over again.

  


Another deep breath and more of his anxiety left him.

  


He had left Tony sleeping in his bed. His fiancé knew what he had to do and had smiled a little. He was drugged to the high heavens, but he knew and approved. Tom had also left the kids with him.

  


They'd all been asleep when he had left the hospital. The kids didn't like that he had to leave so soon after what happened, but he tried to explain it to them. He wasn't sure if they understood, but they had accepted it. Tom had waited until all three of them had fallen asleep before leaving to deal with the bitch.

  


It had been hard to leave them there, but this needed to be done. And the secret service were being more paranoid than usual, they would be fine and so would he.

  


If all of this hadn't left him so raw, he would've chuckled at Tony's luck. Once more, Tony had earned his code name ‘Phoenix’. Tom knew it was meant to be the code for the designated survivor. Then again Tony had had too many close calls to be called anything else. If the shoe fit... and he was fine being 'Glasses', no one would expect something like that to be the call sign for the president.

  


"Sir, we're here." Mike informed him, interrupting his thoughts.

  


"Thank you Mike." Tom surprised even himself with how calm he sounded.

  


He knew he wasn’t looking very presidential at the moment with his rumpled suit and bags under his eyes. He didn’t give a fuck about it.

  


He'd been too close to losing another loved one and that spurred his rage. He’d been so afraid; his kids had been in shock. They loved Tony and they loved their grandmother, but now they didn’t even want to see her. And he wasn’t going to make them. He was glad that the hag wouldn’t be getting her claws into them, ever again.

  


They walked through the halls towards her cell as a group, Tom in the middle. The halls were cleared by armed marines. Tom thought it was a bit of an overkill, but he let it go. He knew he was safe and let his mind wonder to the hospital. To his kids.

  


Before they had fallen asleep, Leo had said what he thought.

  


“Tell Eva, that we don’t have a grandmother anymore.” His young son had growled, and Penny nodded her head. Tom understood them, but it made him sad that things had gone the way they had. His kids deserved so much more.

  


"Sir." Mike started. "I don't like this."

  


"I know Mike. But this is something I need to see through. If it helps you relax, you can come in with me." Tom told his most trusted agent.

  


"Thank you sir." Mike agreed.

  


Tom nodded his head. He knew that he wouldn't get rid of the agent now that he was a bit extra paranoid.

  


He paused before the door was opened and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath to center himself once more and then he exhaled one long breath. He felt calmer, but the anger wasn’t far from the surface, but he felt he could keep a lid on it.

  


He nodded his head and the agent closest to the door opened it. Mike entered first and Tom waited until the huge man had moved away from the doorway. The door closed behind him.

  


His mother in law was handcuffed to the table, there wasn’t much she could do, but Tom noticed Mike glaring at her. Well his face was blank, but he kept his intense stare at her.

  


Tom did the same, he looked at the woman who had been a part of his life for so long. They had never gotten along, but for Alex’s sake, he had tried, she, not so much.

  


“Do you really hate me that much?” He asked going straight to the point. His voice was low and rough. He knew that he looked like hell, his eyes puffy and bloodshot after crying through the night. Like stated earlier, the night had been a long one.

  


He was just glad that his VP had been there to cover his six. That had relieved him of his duties so he could stay with his family when they needed him there the most.

  


“Do not flatter yourself.” She snarled. "You can't even talk to me without that thing in the corner.“

  


Tom had never wanted to hit anyone so much, ever. He knew he couldn't do it, but the urge was there. Before he could say anything though, to defend his friend, his mother in law continued.

  


"You have ruined the kids, you have ruined everything.” She had raved.

  


“How on earth could I have ruined the kids?” He was honestly baffled.

  


“Kids need a mother and a father. Two fathers make them twisted, they will grow up wrong and they will think it is alright to be like you.” She gave a full body shudder.

  


Before Tom could react, she turned to look into the unoccupied corner behind him and smiled. It almost made her look young again. “See Alexandra. I told you he was no good for you.”

  


Tom and Mike looked as well, but there was nothing there. It was then that he realized, the grandmother of his kids had lost her mind. She was hallucinating, talking to Alex like she was there. She was broken in so many ways. Tony had saved him, but there had been no one to save her and she hadn't been strong enough to handle things on her own.

  


Tom felt his rage melt away, he was angry, but it wasn't burning in his veins anymore. He was equal amounts sad. The woman in front of him needed to be in proper care and a jail wasn't it. Tom would make sure that she'd get the best care there was. She'd never be free again, but she could have a nice life in the most secure hospital he could find. She would need to get evaluated by professionals and until then, she would remain here.

  


One thing was certain though, he never wanted to see her again. He knew she had never liked him and had been fine with that, but she had attacked his family and his fiancé in their home. And that was not something he could forgive. Insane or not. He wasn’t a specialist of the field, for all he knew, she could be faking it.

  


“You have the right to your opinion under the constitution.” Tom told her.

  


She scoffed at him. “Do not give me that bullshit, Mr President. You are nothing, but a pussyfooting moron.”

  


Tom hadn't expected that, but he leaned closer to her. “I don’t give a rat's ass what you think about me. You. Do. Not. Hurt those I love without repercussions. You claim to love my kids, Alexandra’s kids, but you put them into danger with your actions. Do you know how scared they are right now? Scared of you?” Tom’s voice was like ice. “How much they hate you right now?”

  


She flinched, and Tom knew that he could deliver the devastating blow. It might be petty, but he didn’t care.

  


“They wanted me to tell you something.” Tom paused. “They told me to tell you that they no longer have a grandmother. And I will make sure that you will never get close to them, ever again.”

  


“Look at you. Finally got some backbone.” She smirked. It was like his words hadn't registered with her yet. Later she would despair, but for now she just spewed curses at his son in law.

  


Tom needed to leave before he did something that would ruin his reputation. When the door opened to let him out, he turned to look at her one more time.

  


“Have a nice life.” And with that he walked out.

  


The drive back to the hospital, where Tony was treated, seemed blissfully short. It felt like he had sat in the backseat of his car and then they were there.

  


He hurried back to his family and he smiled at the sight that greeted him. Penny had curled on the bed beside Tony and Tony was holding her gently while they both slumbered. Leo was asleep on a chair beside the bed. He had dragged the bit chair that had been under the window close to the bed and fallen asleep on it.

  


He had been on it when Tom had left, but the chair had been under the window then. Tom felt the love he had for his family grow stronger. These were his people, his to love and to protect. And there was nothing he wouldn't do to make sure these people, his family, remained safe.

  


“Are you thinking of her again?” Tony asked, his voice thick with sleep.

  


“I admit.” Tom took off his jacket bent over to kiss Tony forehead. He took a chair and sat on it. “I just came back. I needed to speak with her. I never could understand how something as sweet as Alex came out of her.” Tom almost gagged.

  


Tony snorted and yawned again. He was exhausted and in pain. It annoyed him that he burned through pain medication so damn fast. He hated getting shot. And the getting better part always sucked because everything hurt. He also hated when people worried about him.

  


"How are you?" Tom asked and ran his hand through his husband's hair.

  


"In pain, but I don't want anymore meds. They make me loopy. And I burn through them too fast anyway. Plus is don't want to move Penny." Tony admitted.

  


"I hate that you have to go through this." Tom grimaced.

  


"Been through worse." Tony yawned.

  


"Don't remind me." Tom didn't want to remember.

  


"You are adorable." Tony grinned and yawned again. “Love you.” He mumbled, his body wanting to go to sleep.

  


“I love you too. Close your eyes and go to sleep. I'll be here.” Tom took Tony’s hand and slowly Tony fell asleep.

  


Tom smiled again.

  


He took out his papers from the suitcase and started working. That was how Tony found him when he woke up again.

  


Penny and Leo had gone with their agents to find some food for them. Tom hadn’t wanted to leave Tony.

  


“I love you and I love it that you are here, but do you not have a country to run?” He asked. Working, hunched over a small table, that the nurses had brought in for him, couldn't be comfortable. And it wasn't, but Tom would never admit it.

  


“My favorite person is in the hospital; the country can wait.” Tom was resolute, and Tony found it oddly endearing.

  


“I thought your kids were the favorite.” Tony tried to get a drink, but his shoulder hurt. Tom noticed it and helped him.

  


“Easy. Do not make yourself hurt even worse.” He admonished gently.

  


“Thanks babe, but honestly I do not think running a country works like that. I doubt it will wait… why else you would be working in here?” Tony smirked.

  


“I run the country, so it does.” Tom put his nose in the air and scoffed. "Plus Aaron is doing the actual running of the country at the moment."

  


Tony started laughing which was not a good idea.

  


“Ow.” he was miserable.

  


“What did I just tell you about hurting yourself?”

  


“Quit making me laugh then.”

  


“Alright.” Tom grinned. “I might make you moan instead.” And he leaned in to kiss Tony. The younger man felt his toes curl. Tom was a man of his word.


End file.
